Thinking of an method to get my wife to think about the organization.......

by insearchoftruth 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Wordly Andre
    Wordly Andre

    Road trip to the happiest place on earth, Bethel!!!!! That should kick her of the watchtower habit

  • StAnn
    StAnn
    I think a slant I may be able to use is the anointed/FDS since my wife really did not know anything about this

    ISO, get Captives of a Concept by Don Cameron. It completely lays open the fallacy of the FDS claims using the Proclaimers book. It's absolutely priceless.

    http://www.captivesofaconcept.com/index.php

    BTW, you're less than three weeks older than I am! Happy July birthday to us!

    StAnn

  • insearchoftruth
    insearchoftruth

    Thanks St. Ann,

    Happy July birthday to you as well. I was wondering what wts material Captives used, and I am pretty sure that our public library has proclaimers, if not most likely the pesky sister can provide. Are there any major changes in the 2008 edition of Captives?

    I wish I could get her to read Crisis of Conscience, it lays it all out on the line...but I have trouble getting her to read much at all, apostate or not (maybe that is why the simple jw approach works for her!)

    Appreciate all the great ideas...keep them coming!

  • Awakened at Gilead
    Awakened at Gilead

    I suggest the "Where do you find in the Bible?" method...

    *** rs p. 199 par. 2 Jehovah’s Witnesses ***

    (1) Bible: Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the entire Bible is the inspired Word of God, and instead of adhering to a creed based on human tradition, they hold to the Bible as the standard for all their beliefs.

    So, since ALL their beliefs come from the Bible, ask where she can find:

    1. "paradise earth"

    2. "7 gentile times"

    3. "governing body"

    4. "free moral agent"

    5. "organization"

    The WTS uses this argument against the trinity doctrine. Please look the following up in the rs book. You can then substitute the word "trinity" with any of the 5 mentioned above... and they apply just as forcefully as the arguments about the trinity...

    *** rs p. 405 Trinity ***

    What is the origin of the Trinity doctrine?

    The
    NewEncyclopædiaBritannica says: "Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, ...

    A person who is really seeking to know the truth about God is not going to search the Bible hoping to find a text that he can construe as fitting what he already believes.

    ...

    InwhatpositiondoesbeliefintheTrinityputthosewhoclingtoit?It puts them in a very dangerous position. The evidence is indisputable that the dogma of the Trinity is not found in the Bible, nor is it in harmony with what the Bible teaches.

    The above 5 obviously are just a partial list...

    Lance

  • 10p
    10p

    Well, I can only speak from my own experience ...

    No facts or figures would get through. In fact, keeping what I knew a secret seemed more effective - because then instead of it being a 'battle', her curiosity was getting the better of her.

    I know its not the same for all, but I became a better person after leaving, and my wife was taken aback by that. Then by not throwing any apostate stuff at her, but just saying I had very good reasons for leaving, and had done a lot of research etc, it made her wonder. What DID I know the she didnt?!!?

    Somewhere I read that if a 'true believer' survives an attack on their faith, they come out even more zealous. In other words, if you try and throw the UN scandal at her, and she comes away with a plausible explanation for it that she is happy with, then she will be even more faithful to the organization. Keeping in mind you probably don't get an opportunity to sit down and discuss someting like that for the hours and hours it would require, in the calm and reasonable fashion it deserves ... and the chances you are going to lose any particular 'attack' are pretty high. And that will just make it harder for future 'attacks'.

    I tended to just stick up for myself and my decision, stating that I was doing what I felt was right after thorough research, plenty of reflection and prayer. I didn't let her see me as someone 'misled by satan', but as someone who was bold and fearless .... that I am one of those who would have left off being a jew to follow Jesus, back in that time. How many witnesses today would be like that - how many, brought up as a jew, would even have *listened* to Jesus (who the jewish religious leaders were warning their followers about, saying he was from the devil, just like the organsiation today demonises apostates). That was my main approach to getting through to my wife - only once she decided she wanted to know this 'apostate' info did we start talking about things like Russell's pyramids and Rutherfords alcoholism. It was only then that she could see these things objectively anyway.

    All the best, and I hope you get through. I know in my case, it has made my marriage orders of magnitude better than it was.

    PS. bear in mind, it took 2 years in my case. 2 long, painful years, and I never thought it would have this happy ending. I'm still on cloud 9.

  • insearchoftruth
    insearchoftruth

    10p-

    Thanks for the ideas and very encouraging words, as well as a view of the light at the end of the tunnel!!! I hope to see that light some day, in fact it is the only 'new light' I hope to see.

    A@G-

    The 'where do you find in the bible' approach is what I think I may use on the occasions where I get a chance for a more open approach, and I am hoping to read the bible with her (can't study it of course...since independent study is not allowed - gag).

    Any other ideas...you are all great!

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